Tag: "Rap"

Hip-hop is no stranger to violence, whether it’s in boastful lyrics, videos, or the actual past lives of emcees who’ve escaped the streets and struggles of the inner city. Sometimes, though, it gets too real. Cut to Monday morning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Rick Ross barely escaped a barrage of bullets in an apparent drive-by shooting on the morning of his 37 birthday. Ross and girlfriend Shateria L. Moragne-el were reportedly on their way to a birthday breakfast when a gunman from another car opened fire on Ross’ 2011 Rolls-Royce. Ross sped away, only to quickly crash into a nearby apartment building. Though the bullets pierced the window of a nearby diner, neither Ross, nor his girlfriend, nor any of the diner patrons were injured. The night before, Ross has been celebrating his birthday with P. Diddy at the LIV nightclub in Miami. Continue reading ‘Rick Ross Targeted In Attempted Miami Shooting’

OurStage artist Yonas has just released the official video for his new single “Clockwork” off of his upcoming EP The Black Canvas, which drops on February 4. “The black sheep in life is the person that stands out amongst the crowd,” Yonas describes. “The black canvas is the art that stands out amongst the industry.” Check out the video below.

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Nobody can talk about grassroots success like Canadian hip-hop artist Classified, who has been blazing his own independent trail since 1995. The emcee and producer has toured with the likes of Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, and Busta Rhymes, and has sold over 100,000 albums in Canada alone. Oh, and that awesome song in Madden ’12, “That Ain’t Classy?” Yeah, that was him. We sat down with one of the biggest names in Canadian hip-hop to chat about the Nova Scotian scene, his production styles, and his love/hate relationship with Kanye.

OS: What’s the Nova Scotian hip-hop scene like?

Classified: The scene is very Nova Scotian [laughs]. If you’re down here and you’re involved in the scene, you know what’s going on. You can go to the shows and check it out. But besides me and maybe two other guys, there aren’t many guys getting past just Nova Scotia to even the rest of Canada. We’re very secluded. We don’t get as many shows as they draw in Montreal or Vancouver. But it’s a dope scene. There’s been great artists coming out of here since ’95, when I started. People putting out albums, putting out their viral videos and stuff. It just still seems like a lot of people in the rest of the world haven’t been exposed to it because a lot of the artists aren’t pushing their stuff that hard. But really dope scene, great DJs, breakers, graff writers, emcees. Continue reading ‘Exclusive Q and A: Classified Talks Beats, Rhymes, And Life’

Originally living in shamanic clans on the world of Draenor, 2 Chainz and Juicy J were forced to abandon their peaceful culture after the demon lord Kil’jaeden of the Burning Legion vengefully corrupted…oh, sorry. We’re getting word that 2 Chainz and Juicy J are actually featured in their own video games. Our mistake.

Continue reading ’2 Chainz And Juicy J Star In Online Video Games’

It has been quite a while—6 years in fact—since Andre 3000 has released a full studio album. Outkast‘s 2006 soundtrack for their movie Idlewild, is the last major release by the hip hop/R&B artist. Since then he has only been on featured tracks or his own sporadically released single tracks. This has raised a lot of questions and rumors among his fans, especially as to whether or not there will be an Outkast reunion.

According to Complex.com, Andre 3000 explained  in a Rolling Stone interview just where he stands currently as an artist, and frankly, he is not sure. He says that “things are kind of up in the air with me, and some days, I feel like yeah, I’ll do it. Some days, I feel like, I don’t. I don’t know the future of music right now. I have no idea what I do. I honestly don’t.” Andre also mentioned that he feels a judgmental pressure from fans and critics who are watching his every move in the music world “because I don’t do it much, they analyze every word and before, you could’ve had a shitty verse and people just forgot about it. So it’s different now.”

As for a reunion with Outkast, he simply states that he has tuned out all rumors and expectations because “it makes me mad to read it sometimes,” he says, “I don’t read the Internet.”

Meanwhile, Andre’s former Outkast partner Big Boi is set to release his next solo album, coincidentally named Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, on December 11th. Hopefully Andre will get back into the swing of things, and perhaps the two will join forces once again, but as of now, that seems unlikely.

If you like Outkast or Andre 3000, check out OurStage artist MIRK.

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It was a little hard to believe Lady Gaga was serious when she dove into the world of trap music with the release of “Cake” back in September. Filled with heavy snare samples and sounding as lo-fi as possible, the track found Mother Monster rapping about her money and extravagance in a way that was unusal to say the least (even for her). Never one to settle for being a “little” weird, Gaga has now announced plans to release a video for the song, and recruited none other than controversial celebrity photographer Terry Richardson to direct the clip. You can view a teaser below, but I’ll warn you now that it only runs fifteen seconds. If you want to hear the song, click here.

No word yet on when the full “Cake” video will debut, but rest assured we’ll post it as soon as we are able. In the meantime, fans of Gaga should check out OS artist Andre Godin.

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Given that President Barack Obama had the hip-hop vote pretty securely in the bag, it’s only fitting that the day after his re-election is awash in a wave of celebratory tracks from artists big and small. Here are three notable songs paying tribute to Obama’s second term that range from the inspiring to the incomprehensible.

Young Jeezy – “We Done It Again”

The newly minted Senior Vice President of A&R at Atlantic Records manages to cram Trayvon Martin, Hurricane Katrina, and the trillion-dollar deficit into a mere two and a half minutes. In the spiritual successor to his 2008 track “My President Is Black,” Jeezy sends out his message to “every ghetto in the world / Every little boy and little girl.” Though the new track is more cautiously optimistic this time around (“Waiting on a savior, maybe Barack”), it still a clear show of the rapper’s full support of the president.

Continue reading ‘Post-Election Songs: From Hopeful To Head-Scratching’

Get your drinks in the air – we’re celebrating the biggest and baddest rappers in the game. This mix features some of the hottest names in hip-hop, alongside rising OurStage rappers Jitta On The Track, Will Brennan and The Niceguys. Enjoy!

Forget cats, hot air balloons, or whatever other random images the makers of motivational posters think get their point across. 2 Chainz should be their go–to man from now on. In the introductory episode of MTV’s “This Is How I Made It,” the Georgia emcee dishes out the inspirational story of his early life and rise to fame like a bling–laden Tony Robbins. Despite being a prodigious basketball player who was courted by numerous Division I schools, 2 Chainz’ chances of playing college ball dissolved after he was locked up for a month during high school.

Continue reading ’2 Chainz Gets Motivational On First “This Is How I Made It” Episode’

Can you believe it’s been twenty years since Rage Against The Machine released their debut self-titled album? In 1992, the politically charged rap/rock hybrid group came right out of the gate with one of the most disturbing and controversial photographs of the 20th century as their album cover, a bold statement that showed the world just how serious they were about making an impact. Since then, Rage has been one of the most influential bands in the world, aiding not only in the world of music, but in the world of political activism as well.

Now, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their momentous first album, they will be re-issuing the record in multiple limited edition box set formats entitled Rage Against The Machine – XX.  According to NME.com, the release will “contain a remastered version of the album, demos and previously unseen live footage as well as a film of their 2010 gig in Finsbury Park and new liner notes written by Public Enemy‘s Chuck D. The deluxe box set will include “two CDs, two DVDs, one 180g vinyl LP, one 40-page booklet and two-sided poster, or as a Special Edition with two CDs and a bonus DVD featuring six tracks.” There will also be a 180g vinyl edition and a single CD edition with three bonus tracks. Rage Against The Machine – XX is set to be released on November 26th. For more details and track-listings, click here.

If you enjoy Rage Against The Machine, then you might also like Ourstage’s own Game Rebellion.

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